The history of the breed in America began rather
unexpectedly. Moira
Morrison, a pioneer for the Bearded
Collie in the U.S.A., began to research the origins of the breed
she loved so dearly and discovered that it was thought to be
descended from a shaggy sheepdog native to Poland. Her search
for information on this obscure dog put her in touch with a rare
breed enthusiast in England, Muriel Landers Cooke. Muriel had
visited Poland while writing a book on rare breeds and met with
breeders who were willing to part with some PONs. In 1979, with
Muriel's help, Moira became the proud owner of two roughly eight
month old PONs: Bundz
z Starego Lupkowa and Fajerka z Kordegardy. Then in the summer of 1980, three other puppies
came to reside with Moira: Kontrapunkt
Lakotka and two others by Kaduk
Tytus out of Pol. Ch. Lada z Kordegardy. Moira bred several litters
and luckily, one puppy remained from the last litter she would
breed when the woman considered to be the foremost pioneer of
the PON in America, Betty
Augustowski, inquired about the
breed who shared her Polish heritage. In 1982, at the age of
four months, Pan
Vladek would become the first PON
with Betty's kennel name of Elzbieta. Although it was believed
there may be as many as 12 other PONs in the U.S. at the time,
brought over from Belgium and Germany by American service families
and tourists, it was Vladek who would be the "father"
of the breed in America. He was the sire or grandsire of nine
of the first American PON champions. Having fallen in love with
Vladek, Betty pursued her dream of finding a mate for him and
her relentless search would eventually be rewarded when word
arrived that a pregnant bitch would be sent from Poland in March
of 1983. Krymka
z Kordegardy, a gold-medal winner
in Europe, gave birth in April to five healthy PON pups: Anetka, Anolik, Polamka, Stasia
and Brunek. For
breeding purposes, the Augustowski's kept two bitches from the
litter, Anetka and Anolik and the only male, Brunek. Krymka, Elzbieta's foundation bitch, was the mother
or grandmother of seven of the first ten U.S. champions. Then,
quite unexpectedly, a pilot contacted Betty in June of that same
year, with information that her two dogs had arrived at Baltimore-Washington
International. Somehow, despite botched trans-Atlantic translations,
Polish breeders had eventually sent Awans z Kordegardy
and Branka z Kordegardy to America on a flight from Germany. These nine
were joined by Moira Morrison's original bitch Kontrapunkt Lakotka in September of 1983, who by now was an adult,
and it was Lakotka (nicknamed "Latchka") who would
be bred with Vladek in April of 1984 to produce Elzbieta's first
homebred litter. Among this litter of seven was Vladja z Elzbieta (Ski) who would become the mother of the breed's
first American champion. Roughly a year later a nine-week-old
pup, Klon Akribeia, was delivered from Poland bringing the number
of Elzbieta's stud dogs to four. Then in 1989 Inbred Lapowka was brought to America by her breeder/owners Dr.
Margaret Supronowicz and Dr. Tomasz Borkowski. Lapowka would
be followed by Kontrapunkt
Lawenda in November of 1991. Lawenda was the first Polish and
Danish champion imported into the U.S. Premier Oligarchia
came to the U.S. from Poland in January of 1992 for a few weeks
to be bred to Inbred Lapowka and Elzbieta's Ciena, a daughter
of Vladek and Lapowka. There would be more polish imports to
the U.S. who arrived with Betty on her return from a visit to
Poland in 1992. The three were: Zapaska Oligarchia Kawalkada,
a female; Kontrapunkt
Rozgrywka, a female; and Kontrapunkt Ryzykant, a male.

No history
for the breed in America would be complete without recognizing
the individual milestones accomplished by the breed since coming
to the USA. Watch here for more firsts as we begin another exciting
chapter in PON history by moving into the AKC Herding Group August
1, 2001.

First recorded win of
a Polski Owczarek Nizinny in an American show ring: Pan Vladek
at the age of seven months won Best of Breed 10/1982breeder: Moira Morrison;
owner: Betty Augustowski

The American Polish Owczarek
Nizinny Club (APONC) was established in 1987